Campfire Stories
by viciousboar
Summary: Why do all demigods look forward to campfire stories? Because Grover's telling them now. And Grover always has some juicy gossip on Annabeth and Percy.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson *cries***

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Percy and Annabeth were nowhere to be found. But no one bothered to look for them, or even remind Chiron or Mr. D that two campers were missing, because ever since they started dating, both of them would disappear at random times together. And they would always be found in one or the other's cabin, either chatting, or locked at the lips.

All the camper at Camp Half-Blood had gathered for the nightly campfire, only tonight everyone was excited. Even the Ares cabin, who never participated in the happy, cheesy songs. That's because Grover was storytelling tonight. And Grover _always_ had an interesting story to tell. Why? Because they were all basically gossip about Percy and Annabeth.

* * *

Grover already knew which story he was going to tell by the time the reached the last song. This one he hadn't actually taken part in, but Percy had actually been talking about it in his sleep (in excruciating detail), and he had seen it through the link they shared between their minds.

Getting up as they finished the last verse of the final song, Grover stood in the center of the perfect circle. Everyone stopped their curious whispering, wanting to get every detail of the infamous couple at camp. Grover cleared his throat once more, and began, while every single camper (even Chiron was sitting behind everyone, pretending he wasn't listening) leaned forward with anticpation.

"This really isn't a scary story, or anything..." he began lamely, not sure where to begin.

"Just get on with it then!" shouted a voice from the Ares cabin. Grover looked offended, but continued anyways.

"So, I was walking into Percy's room in the afternoon, because I wanted to borrow his-" he glanced at some of the younger campers. "Never mind. Anyways, he was taking a nap, 'cause he's invincible and all that stuff, when I heard him talking in his sleep."

Murmurs could be heard throughout the audience. Grover could tell he already had intrigued them, had them hooked onto the story.

"So when Percy was talking, it wasn't just some random babble." Grover grinned as he said the next sentence.

"He was talking about his first kiss with a certain daughter of Athena," Wild laughter and hoots were emitted from the campers, even though Grover wasn't even close to the end. The only ones who weren't enjoying themselves were the naiads who'd had crushes on Percy since he was twelve, and were jealous of the new couple at camp. Most of them had slithered back down to the lake to sulk.

"And since we have the empathy link, I was able to visualize the memory along with him," Grover beamed as people practically shrieked with laughter.

"On our quest to the labyrinth, me and Tyson and Annabeth and Percy split up." There were a couple of _oohs _already from the audience. "So, during our quest in the labyrinth, I wanted to follow Pan. But Hephaestus-"

A couple of cheers rang out through the demigod children of the blacksmith god.

"Ahem. Yeah. So Hephaestus wanted us to go scope out stuff at Mt. St. Helens. And we ended up splitting up- Tyson and me, and Percy and Annabeth."

"Tyson and I!" Malcolm, Annabeth's half-brother, corrected him.

"Same difference!" The retaliation came from the Ares cabin, and soon, the entire throng of kids were arguing.

When it finally calmed down, Grover asked the campers, "Do you guys really want to hear the story?"

There were some nods, and some _sorries_ shouted out, and so he continued.

"Percy overheard some telekhines plotting, and wanted to get Annabeth out so he could deal with them." Thankfully, no one commented on this bit of information. "So he did his usual thing: sliced a couple telekhines, almost got burnt by lava, and ran into Annabeth along the way.

"He said that he wanted her to leave so that she'd be safe and-" A numerous amount of _awws_ were emitted from the girls (and boys) of the Aphrodite cabin, and under the torchlight, you could just make out the smirk on Chiron's face. The chatter started up again as some tried to imagine the scene in their heads.

Grover glared at the campers a bit before it became silent again. "They started one of their annoying arguments..."

One of the Aphrodite campers squealed, then interrupted, "How are their arguments annoying? They are sooo cute! I wish I was-" she stopped as she noticed every single person in the audience glaring at her. "Sorry. Carry on," she muttered.

Grover pressed two of his fingers to his temple, hoping that he could get the story finished before Percy and Annabeth would show up. He could almost imagine them sprinting up the hill, red in the face, muttering excuses at to why they missed out on campfire.

"He was worried about her, so when he eventually convinced her to clear out, she had her infamous glare plastered on her face. I swear, in the vision, he was almost shaking." This part wasn't really true, but he wanted to add to the gossip that would be spread around the next day.

"He was absolutely sure she was going to punch him in the face. But, instead..." he trailed off, letting the smirk on his face finish the sentence.

The entire multitude of demigods burst out with various reactions- some over-emotional Aphrodite girls burst out into tears, crying at the 'beautiful moment created by Percy and Annabeth.' Some kids passed twenty dollar bills among each other, either happy or sad to the outcome of their bets. Most kids though just burst out laughing, because behind Grover, two figures approached: one blonde, one brunette.

"Hey guys!" Annabeth said, a little too enthusiastically, to make up for her absence. "Sorry we're late Chiron, Juniper wanted to ask us something," she lied on the spot. Percy just eyed the ground, a little embarrassed by their obvious fib.

"Sit down, you two," Chiron would have sounded stern, but like most of the others, was chuckling, and was having a hard time hiding the grin he wanted to show.

After they were seated, Percy looked around, confused by the silence. "What, did we miss campfire story, too?"

This was followed by lots more laughter, as the couple sat hand-in-hand, not sure of what was so humorous. (And if they knew, they really wouldn't be joining in with the laughter).

When it died down, Percy, even more curious, questioned, "So what was it tonight?"

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**Thanks for reading, I hoped you guys liked my first PJO fanfiction!**

**Read (I guess you've already done that) and Review!**

**~viciousboar**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for all the amazing reviews guys :]**

**Disclaimer: My name ain't Rick Riordan. There, I said it.**

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Grover waited and waited and waited in the strawberry field. He already had planned what he was going to say at campfire tonight, where he knew every camper would eagerly be attending. But at the moment, he had other things to worry about.

Juniper warned him that Percy and Annabeth were tracking him down, because apparently they were both told that all the whispering and snickering was caused by him. Later, she told him that some Aphrodite girls informed her that the couple planned on ditching campfire- _again._

It was times like these that Grover really appreciated Juniper's extremely good hearing and Aphrodite's lack of interest in anything but gossip.

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Finding everyone giggling at you for no reason can be hurtful. And at one point, it gets irritating. Annabeth sadly, learned this the hard way, and snapped at the Demeter girls during archery.

"What are you laughing at?" she demanded. "There is nothing funny about a bow and arrow!"

The girls just giggled even harder, but before they could prance off, Annabeth, grabbed one by the hand and looked her in the eye.

"I repeat. What. are. you. laughing. at?" she interrogated her, knowing the intimidating look on her face would make the girl succumb to telling her the answer.

The girl turned red, scared of the fact that Annabeth was holding an arrow in her hand. "Just go find Grover. He'll tell you." Taking advantage of Annabeth's slackened grip, she got loose and skipped off with her friends, and resumed their invariable snickering.

The blonde they left behind, still holding the archery weapons in her hands, notched the arrow into place, and aimed it at the girls; unfortunately, she could only imagine letting it fly.

"Yo, Wise Girl," Clarisse came up behind her.

"What?" she shrieked as she pivoted on her foot to face the daughter of Ares.

"Calm down, prissy. Don't yell at me again, or I'll run you through with Maimer."

Annabeth held her hands in defense: she knew it wasn't a good idea to provoke Clarisse at 10 in the morning. "Sorry! I'm just annoyed. Everyone's either been pointing and laughing or whispering at me, and not even doing it discreetly," Annabeth never thought her emotional outlet would ever be Clarisse.

Clarisse grinned. "_Oh. _That. Ha, well, can't help you there," she patted her on the back, rather roughly, before leaving.

Annabeth just glared at her back. She was in on it too?

_"Just go ask Grover. He'll tell you."_

She contemplated what the Demeter girl had said.

Did Grover say something? To every single girl in camp? _Oh, _she was going to get him.

* * *

Guys really aren't the gossipy, tittering type. So it confused Percy when the demigods he hung out with were staring at him, muttering things, then giggling like ditzy school girls; he was dumbfounded.

It really struck a nerve when Travis Stoll glanced at him, and then turned to his twin, making kissy faces. He was reaching his boiling point, about to lash out at him, yet before he could, Chris Rodriguez called him (apparently there was a backup in the plumbing in the boys' bathroom).

But even then, Chris was smirking at him. "Hey, at least it's not lava, right?" he told him.

_What? What the hell does plumbing have to do with lava?_

He really wanted to know what was up. Why in the name of the gods were people laughing at him for no apparent reason?

So when Will Solace was caught smirking at him with _I-know-one-of-your-secrets _looks, Percy jumped down his throat.

"What's the matter with you guys? What in the name of Zeus' beard are you laughing at?" he practically screeched.

Will flinched, trying not to cower in front of the other demigod. "Go ask Grover," he replied, crossing his fingers behind his back that all the blame would be taken on the satyr instead of him.

_What? What in the gods did Grover say? _Percy could only wonder what his best friend did to transform all his guy buddies into giggling, gossipy girls.

* * *

Percy and Annabeth caught each other between arts & crafts.

"Do you know what Grover said?" they both questioned in unison.

"I guess not," Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I just want to know what everyone's talking about. It's so annoying."

"I tried looking for Grover, but apparently someone tipped him off, because Chiron said he went to 'assist Argus in going to sell strawberries,'" Percy sighed in defeat.

"So... is there any chance we can meet up in your cabin again tonight? During campfire?" Annabeth questioned, rocking back and forth on her heel, waiting for the answer.

"'Course," he smirked before leaning in to kiss her, before he could finish his painting of Mrs. O'Leary.

* * *

Grover rubbed his hands, trying to stay cold. As predicted, all the demigods were present- all but two, of course. Chiron even convinced Mr. D to join in with them.

There was complete silence as Grover made his way up to the center of the circle. No one wanted to miss a word this time, and after last night's fiasco of interruptions, no one dared to say anything.

"Hi. Yeah. So I'm glad you all came tonight," he internally winced at his lame opening, but luckily, no one called out this time.

"Before I start, guys, do you think you could not mention my name in front of Percy and Annabeth? Like, ever? 'Cause they were prepared to hunt me down today." Although he was completely serious, there were still a couple chortles.

"I thought tonight I could tell you guys about Rachel Elizabeth Dare," he said. Some of the older campers, who knew the red-headed Oracle once had a thing for their current Olympian hero, grinned widely along with Grover. "And maybe even Calypso," he remembered she was a factor in the story as well.

"So Annabeth, Percy, Tyson and _I_," he began, glancing at Malcolm, "went on a quest through the labyrinth, like I told you yesterday.

"We definitely couldn't navigate through the labyrinth. We couldn't even see half of the traps and tricks that lay right in front of us. But after we split, and Percy and Annabeth went to Mt. St. Helens together and convinced Annabeth to get out of there..." he paused, waiting for the _oohs _that came from the smirking campers. As it came, he grinned widely.

"And Percy accidently blew up Mt. St. Helens. He actually caused the explosion. I really don't know how, that's just his luck, though.

But when he landed, he landed in a very interesting spot. Caaalyyypsooo's Iiiislaaand," he said, stretching out the vowels on purpose.

Even the younger campers knew what that was. There was so much laughter that Grover was scared that his two best friends might hear from their cabins.

Luckily, no one came, so he continued. "For those that don't know the story," everybody did, but Grover felt the need to explain it anyways. "Calypso was put there, and every thousand years or so, a hero washes up on her beach.

"A hero," he said, "that she can't help but fall in _love_ with." This time the laughter was even louder, and more hysterical, and Grover started to sweat a little. He was sure if Annabeth (or Percy, for that matter) were to ever hear what things he was spreading around camp, they would slice him in half and serve him to Mrs. O'Leary (who had actually been looking at him kinda funny in the last few days).

As the laughter continued, Grover's prediction came true. Annabeth and Percy were coming up, behind the benches, where the campers couldn't see them.

Grover froze on the spot, unable to say anything else. What if the two lovebirds had heard something he had said? He would have to start running now if he actually wanted an opportunity to survive their wrath.

Unfortunately for him, after the laughter died down, people to yell at him.

"Hey, keep going, dude!"

"Did Percy ever love Calyso, then?"

"Does Annabeth punch Calyso in the face, or something? 'Cause, dude, I could totally see her doing that."

"O.M.G. What if Calyso is, like, planning revenge on Annabeth, or something, now that she's free? O.M.G." [Yeah, that was an Aphrodite].

"This is the best campfire ever. Keep talking, Grover!"

Percy and Annabeth, who were holding hands and still making their way to the benches, froze.

"What?" Annabeth managed to get one furious word out.

Every single camper turned around in their seats, startled. Even Chiron and Mr. D looked like surprised. But Mr. D wouldn't have to worry about his life. Lucky him.

Grover began to tremble. And _then_, he ran for his life.

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**Ha, this is really fun to write.**

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	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks you guys for all the reviews! I was so surprised when I checked my email in the morning, I had so much feedback :] So, really, thanks, I love that you guys like this story.**

**I also wanna thank Hopee2 for helping me by giving ideas for this chappy :) Thanks! And also to Mulligatawny, for giving me an idea for a line in the story (you'll know it when you see it). **

**Disclaimer: Yup. I don't own **_**Percy Jackson**_**. But I might own Percy Jackson one day.**

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The next morning, chaos pursued. Grover had taken refuge in the woods, and Percy and Annabeth had chased after him, only to give up after the first three hours (hey, having a girlfriend who's a tree has its benefits).

It was now morning, and he still hadn't come out for breakfast. The 'lovey-dovey' couple both had bags under their eyes from the lack of sleep, and while Annabeth was extremely pissed off at Grover, Percy wished more than anything in the world for a couple more hours of shuteye.

"I can't believe it. Why would Grover do that to us?" Annabeth cried out in rage, boldly taking a seat at the Poseidon table.

"Um, Annabeth," Percy muttered, "maybe we should talk about this later. Chiron will probably-"

"Who cares? He was at the campfire too, wasn't he? _Wasn't he_?" the daughter of Athena was nearly in hysterics.

"That's because he's the camp activities director, Annabeth."

"I don't CARE! This isn't fair! I _still _can't believe this! You realize this is why everybody was laughing at us yesterday?"

"I do, but-"

"I am so mad. I still can't believe it. All of our friends. They were all there, weren't they? I can't believe it!" Annabeth shook her boyfriend's shoulders, as though that would get the message of her words through his brain faster. Percy was starting to fear for _his_ own life, and began to consider taking refuge in the woods along with Grover. He actually started to pity the satyr.

"Yeah. But, c'mon Annabeth. You realize I probably would have done the same thing to him. It's more of a guy thing, you wouldn't understand-"

"Oh, so you're siding with him now? Really? My own boyfriend?" she turned on him immediately. He held up his hands in defense.

"No, its' just-" he began, only to get cut off, _again._

"I can't believe this," Annabeth said, for what seemed like the millionth time this morning. She stood up promptly, slapped him across the cheek, and strode off to her cabin.

Of course, the blow to Percy's face didn't injure him; but he still knew he was being insulted, despite the amount of obtuseness he presented to his girlfriend frequently.

Several onlookers who had been eavesdropping on the conversation burst out into obvious laughter. They weren't scared, because even though Percy was the invulnerable hero, Annabeth still had that menacing glare that could paralyze anyone just as well as a drakon.

He turned on them, and as they realized he was glaring at them, they all cleared their throats and resumed their daily breakfast chatter.

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Juniper scurried over to Malcolm in the Big House, while every now and then looking over her shoulder to see that she was alone.

"Hey, Malcolm!" she whispered into his ear, and he jumped, dropping the book he was so engrossed in.

"Hey, Juniper!" he recognized the wood nymph. "What do you want?"

"Can you tell the rest of your cabin to meet at the Capture the Flag river? Everyone except Annabeth?"

"Why?" he had a puzzled look on his face. "Wait... _oh... _okay, sure," Juniper rolled her eyes at his response. He _was_ a child of Athena, wasn't he?

"Thanks. Be there at two, okay?"

"Sure thang," he winked, then pointed at her, which he thought would look cool (making up for his lapse of thought eight seconds ago).

Juniper rolled her eyes once again, before saying, "Yeah, don't do that." She patted his arm, and left, leaving him a little disappointed.

* * *

Annabeth was standing at the archery arena again, bow and arrow positioned into place.

A pair of arms snuck around her waist before she could shoot, and she jumped, facing the intruder who had interrupted her.

"Agh!" shrieked Percy, holding up his arms for protection, even though the arrow could not penetrate anything but the small of his back.

"Sorry, sorry!" muttered his girlfriend, dropping the weapons. Then she remembered she was still mad at him, and slapped him across the face for the second time today.

"Aw, c'mon, twice?" he groaned, but she was already out of earshot.

That's when he spotted Will and Connor on the other side of the arena, whispering to each other quietly.

He walked up from behind them, planning to scare the two of them by screaming "Hey guys!" into their ears. But before Percy could carry out his plan, he heard his name; so he decided to eavesdrop, even though he could only hear snippets of the conversation.

"-yeah, two o'clock today-"

"-that's what Juniper said-"

"-passing on the message for Grover-"

"-at the Capture the Flag river, yeah-"

Percy backed away slowly, beginning to realize this was valuable information that he should tell his girlfriend. So, Grover was planning some kind of early campfire, was he? To tell the entire camp about the rest of the embarrassing story that he'd definitely rather forget about? What, was he asking for Annabeth and him to castrate and/or kill him? 'Cause Grover really wasn't the suicidal type.

* * *

"Good, you guys are all here!" Grover rubbed his hands together and looked behind him once more, still somewhat paranoid from the events of last night.

"Okay, so I wanna thank you guys all for coming here toni- I mean, today!" he had almost forgotten it wasn't nighttime campfire yet.

Luckily, most of the camp had shown up (with the exception of the two people Grover feared the most); he made a mental note to thank Juniper later.

"Hey, yeah, so guys?" he said, although the crowd hadn't settled down yet.

"GUYS!" he yelled, then winced, as though someone punch him in the stomach, for he was sure that anyone within the borders of the camp would be able to hear his voice.

"Thank you," he nearly whispered, then looked over his shoulder again before he let out a relieved sigh.

"So, anyways, as I was saying yesterday, Calypso was in love with Percy," he said, a bit hurriedly, still worried he might get interrupted again. The audience reacted with a bunch of _oohs_ anyways.

But no weapons came hurtling at his throat, so he relaxed. But only a _tiny_ bit.

"She told him this, and he had a decision to make. Either stay on the island, with Calypso, being mortal forever and being able to forget about all his demigod problems _or..._ he could leave the beautiful island to finish the nearly-impossible quest of defeating Kronos, and making the huge decision of choosing between saving or razing Olympus," he huffed out all in one breath.

"Of course, he didn't know he was going to be the hero to make the choice and defeat Kronos, but yeah," he added. This sadly reminded him of Luke, and the scarred son of Hermes' face flashed across his thoughts.

But thinking of Luke only led to him thinking about Annabeth, and he did _not_ want to think about how she would react after finding out he set up this little organization.

"And so-" he was interrupted rudely by a voice that almost made his heart stop pumping intravenous blood through his veins.

"So is this where the entire camp went on a little 'field trip'?"

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**Heh. Poor Grover. He's going to get a heart attack one day.**

**Thanks again to Hopee2 and Mulligatawny!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks guys, for all the subscriptions and reviews! So... Chapter 4! I'm sorry I've not updated this in a long time, but... nah, I don't really have an excuse.**

**Disclaimer: I think you guys understand why Rick Riordan would NOT come onto Fanfiction to post stories about Percy Jackson.**

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"Grover. Grover. Grover!" someone was shaking the satyr awake.

"Mmm... no, I don't like Sierra Mist cans... just... Coke," Grover murmured, still in the world of dreams.

"GROVER!" Grover opened his eyes, only to find he was sitting in a comfy, checkerboard-patterned bed in the Big House, with Juniper propped up against the nightstand next to him.

"You were out for almost twenty four hours!" Juniper exclaimed. Her face revealed that she had been sobbing for most of those hours.

"What- what happened?" Grover shifted in his comfortable position, just so he could face her.

"You blacked out after Annabeth and Percy walked in on your 'secret campfire story' in front of the entire camp," Juniper told him promptly.

Grover sat up abruptly, now extremely anxious. "What? Where are they now?" He began to feel the paranoia overcoming him once more.

"They came in to see you, but you were still unconscious. They're both at the rock climbing wall right now."

Grover sighed. "I think I'm going to get experience a heart attack really, _really_ soon."

Juniper scanned her boyfriend's face concernedly. "Why'd you even start telling these? I mean, at one point, they _were_ going to find out. And it's not like they'd jump up and down exultantly with joy, rejoicing over the fact that you spread gossip about them all over camp."

"I- I don't know. I never have anything good at campfire," that was partially the truth, but Grover really didn't feel like explaining everything at the moment. He had other things on his mind.

"What time does rock climbing get over?" he questioned.

Juniper sighed, and glanced at the clock behind her. "Four minutes."

"Omigosh, I need to get outta here!" Grover squealed, and made a quick attempt to escape, but Juniper locked him into place with her arms.

"You're not leaving, until you apologize to them, both!" she needed to end this.

"Even... Annabeth?" Grover squeaked, and began to shake in her arms.

"Yes! And you should probably start thinking _now, _about what you're gonna say to them, seeing as they'll be done with rock climbing in _three_ minutes!" Juniper was admant.

Grover stopped struggling, seeing that he had lost (albeit he really had no chance of winning in the first place).

"Fine," he surrendered. "But you need to stay with me! I don't want them to be burning my ripped-apart limbs to nothing when the first people find-" he was starting to get imaginative when she interrupted.

"I'll be here," she sweetly smiled a genuine smile, then leaned to kiss her redhead boyfriend.

Suddenly, there was a rap on the door, interrupting them, and Juniper got off of Grover.

But before Juniper could even let the blonde and brunette in, Grover took advantage of his distracted girlfriend and fled out the back door for the love of Hades' pants. By the time the tree nymph let the two in, Grover was a good 800 yards away, running for the woods.

"Sorry, he kinda... fled," Juniper informed them lamely.

Annabeth scoffed, while Percy admitted, "I would've done the same."

The daughter of Athena shot him a dirty look, then turned back to Juniper.

"I'm really sorry-" she began, but Annabeth interrupted her sentence.

"It's not your fault," she patted her shoulder.

Before Juniper could respond, Malcolm stepped into the room. "Hey, Annabeth?" he asked tentatively, calling his half-sister's attention over to himself.

"Yeah, uh, we kinda need you to come clean up your bed, before the Aphrodites come to inspect our cabin. You know they're really picky," he explained.

"Sure," she sighed, weary at the prospect of cleaning, and followed him out the door.

Percy turned back to Juniper. "Juniper..." he asked, "how often do you slap Grover?"

* * *

Nico, bored with his vacant cabin, was out in the woods. Maybe he'd get lucky with a tree nymph, like Grover did.

Hearing a rustling sound at 5 o'clock on his right, he swiveled to face the origin of the noise. It seemed to be coming from behind a huge boulder.

He heard a sneeze from behind the boulder, and drew his Stygian iron sword.

"H-hello," he stuttered, then remembered he was armed, and cleared his throat loudly. "Hello?"

"Yeah? Hi?" the face of Grover popped out from behind the colossal rock.

"What- what are you doing?" Nico stuttered. Grover didn't seem like the type to go and hide behind a rock for no apparent reason.

"Hiding from... _them_," Grover had a frightenened look in his eyes.

"Oh, what, you mean Percy and Annabeth? Ha, man, you're totally screwed," Nico hadn't actually seen the two for a while, so he didn't know whether they were still angry, but it was fun for him to see the half-human, half-goat squirm a little.

"Really? You saw them? What did they say?" Grover started firing questions at Nico.

"Oh, really, I shouldn't repeat it. I'd feel dirty," Nico smirked inwardly as Grover's expression turned even more extremely scared.

"But I should go," Nico backed away. "And don't worry. I won't say a word," he winked, and strode away, silently shaking with laughter.

* * *

Percy sat at the Poseidon table, picking at his slice of pizza.

Annabeth, noticing his loneliness, abruptly got up from the Athena table and strode on over to his table.

"Hey," she mummured, taking the seat where his imaginary half-sibling would be sitting.

His face, noticeably brighter, turned to view his girlfriend. He sat up straighter, and stopped touching his food.

"Sorry I slapped you earlier," Annabeth began with her apology. "I guess was taking out a lot of my anger on you."

"It's fine," Percy shrugged, and put his arm around her waist. "I guess it's that time of the month, again?"

Annabeth jumped up from the table immediately. "What! Why would you think that?"

Percy made a mental note never to say that to his girlfriend _ever_ again. "Because, well... because," he stammered in front of the fuming blonde. "I was talking with Juniper, and she was explaining-"

"So you just made the assumption that- that," she stopped, only to finally realize the entire camp was listening. She silently sat down, determinedly not looking at her boyfriend, and didn't speak until the usual dinner chatter was up and running again.

"You are a such a Seaweed Brain," she informed him.

"I know. It's been instilled in my head for five years."

"I'm sorry. Again." Knowing this was the best apology he'd get, Percy just smirked, kissed her, then took a sip of his Blue Cherry Coke.

"I just wish Grover would stop _running._ What is he so scared of?" Annabeth resumed their talk about their other best friend.

"Well, c'mon. I mean, imagine if you knew a bunch of stuff about Clarisse and Chris that you told the entire camp. And they found out. What would be the most natural thing to do?"

_Percy actually has a rationalization for Grover's behavior. Too bad he couldn't have used it three years ago to figure out I liked him. Seaweed Brain. _Thoughts floated through Annabeth's brain.

Realizing she still had to answer, she replied,"Well, I'd sort out the situation by logic. I'd write down first the reasons I had for being-"

"No, no, no! What, why would you do that?" Percy shook his head at the solution his girlfriend would use. "You'd _run._"

"Well, wouldn't that make them madder?"

"Exactly! So that's what Grover's afraid of," Percy nodded, glad she finally reached the answer.

Annabeth sighed. "But I just wish that he would face us. It's _us._ His best friends. _I'm _not best friends with _Clarisse_," she corrected his logic. "I'm just mad that _after_ we found out, he continued to do it with the other campers behind our backs!"

"Eh, who knows what goes on in his mind," Percy gave up on trying to explain it to her. He'd just end up getting whipped again.

"I just hope he shows up. Juniper's been going nuts in the past few hours."

"I agree," Percy nodded, before heading back to his pizza before it got even colder.

"Hey guys." A particular son of Hades approached their table, making it a total of three demigods with completely different parents, all at the Poseidon table.

"You'll never guess who I found hiding behind a rock today."

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**Thanks again for reading guys :) I love that you guys like this story.**

**I guess Nico's a little OCC, but I wanted to add someone into the story too, and he's adorable ;]**

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	5. Chapter 5

**Soooorry :) I really have no excuse for not updating this. I did NOTHING over winter break. Heh.**

**But I seriously think I'm suffering from writer's block. I had no ideas for this chapter, until one of my awesome reviewers (thanks, _Clovers13_) gave me one. So, to me, I think I really wrote this chapter _blah. _Hope you guys like it better than I do :))**

**Disclaimer: The world is full of sad truths. Truth: I don't own PJO. Sad Part: I don't own PJO.**

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"Silence!" Chiron's commanding voice stopped the irrelevant chatter at dinner.

"The Hunters will stay in the Artemis cabin for now, and no more complaining!" he declared, then galloped off.

Connor Stoll groaned. "It's not fair! Last time, they ruined my helmet!" he pounded his fist on the table.

"They _did_ change lieutenants. And last time, Thalia was on our side. She knows how most campers feel about them," Annabeth pointed out.

"So? That's horrible! Now they'll know all our tactics for capture the flag!" Jake Mason retaliated.

"Well-" Katie was on Annabeth's side, "we can always change 'em."

"They'll _know_ though! They're smarter than most girls!" Chris Rodriguez knew that was the wrong thing to say only _after_ the words came out of his mouth.

Clarisse stood up, along with Annabeth and pretty much the rest of the girl campers. "Excuse me?"

Chris paled. "I- I didn't mean-" he was interrupted by a fistful of pudding smothered onto his face, getting some all over the Hermes table.

"Hey!" Travis stood up for his half-brother. "Watch it guys!" He picked up his half-eaten pizza and flung it across the pavillion, landing right into Percy's Coke.

"Dude!" Percy was defending his beverage. He picked up his plate of brisket and aimed it incorrectly at the Aprhodite table, causing all of the to shriek with disgust.

All 17 Aphrodite campers retaliated, aiming food at the Poseidon table; but unfortunately (not for Percy), they missed horribly and hit the Athena cabin. The cabin you _really_ don't want to mess with.

The dining pavilion had turned into a full out war.

* * *

Early the next morning, a timber wolf strolled casually across the border. Peleus opened his eyes and hissed as the wolf, now accompanied by the daughter of Zeus, walked over the border; but his suspicions died down once the girl walked right into Chiron's arms.

"Hello child," the centaur was pleased to see her.

"Hey Chiron," she gave a rare smile, then turned to pet Peleus (who immediately calmed at the touch) and touched the tree that had once detained her very own spirit.

"So, we doing capture the flag this time?" she asked excitedly, as the group of girls behind her crossed the border.

"I fear so," Chiron frowned. _Every single damn time_, the campers lost, and he was not looking forward to another Hunter victory. "The other campers are very excited, though, they have lots of confidence this time," sadly, Chiron had no idea that he was lying.

"Are they?" Thalia knew this couldn't be 100% true, but she said nothing. After all, she _knew_ how the campers felt about the Hunters. "And I guess we'll be staying at the Artemis cabin?" she eyed the silvery cabin, knowing that some campers probably rigged it with pranks prior to their arrival.

"Yes, child. I'll see you at breakfast," Chiron called, before trotting over to the Big House.

Thalia smiled as she took in the changes made to the camp. _Seaweed Brain's wish actually came true_, she thought, as she wove between the numerous amount of cabins. Then she made a mental note to never call him 'Seaweed Brain' again, seeing as that was always technically Annabeth's nickname for him.

When they entered the cabin, they found themselves in an untouched room.

"Be careful," Thalia warned the other girls. "The Hermes cabin's probably done something to this cabin."

But after three hours of painstaking searching, they deemed the entire cabin clean of traces of pranks.

"Eh. I bet we'll find something later," Thalia announced. "You guys go to sleep, I realize you've had an exhausting trip, I just wanna check something."

* * *

Grover sat by the rock, playing with the leaves mindlessly. He had really should have thought of bring out Twister or CandyLand with him. Hiding was so _boring_. Then again, he'd have no one to play with if he did.

Suddenly, there was a _rustle._ Someone was there.

Maybe it was Nico, coming back to give him more company. Maybe he brought CandyLand!

"He- hello?" he called out. He really shouldn't have, though, in case it was one of _them_.

"Grover?" a familiar voice responded.

Grover stood up, brushed the dirt off his jeans, and hurried around the rock to see the figure on the other side.

"Thalia!" he exclaimed, but restrained himself from giving her a hug because 1) She's a Hunter, and therefore would probably kill him, and 2) he had a girlfriend anyways, who could actually be watching them right at that very moment with her tree nymph eyes.

There was a glint of confusion in her eyes. "What are you doing here? Behind a rock?"

He realized the circumstances looked a little odd. "Long story," he'd skip it for later. "Just don't tell Percy and Annabeth I was _ever_ here, okay?"

The glint disappeared. "Why? Are you hiding from them?" she asked knowingly.

"Well, kinda. Yeah. Out of fear that they'll kill or seriously injure me," he admitted.

"For what?" she started to feel like she should really catch up on her friends lives.

"N-nothing!" he stammered guiltily. "Let's not talk about it!"

Thalia just raised her eyebrows, knowing she'd get a response from the simple gesture.

"You know... _heh_... I... I, um... I _tol-da-entie-cam-abut-pecy-an-anbet-an-no-tey-r-gong-ta-kil-meh_!" he took a huge gulp of air.

Thalia just stared at him. Then she reminded him, "Deep breaths, in and out," because Grover started hyperventilating.

"Sorry. I- I kinda told the whole camp little snippets of their relationship at campfire, and they caught me, and I'm totally _dead_."

"Ah. Er, that's an interesting situation," she fought the overwhelming urge to laugh.

"Yeah. Kinda. I've never been able to finish a story though. So what are you doing here?" he quickly tried to change the subject. "I mean, not Camp, I knew you guys were coming here, but why're you here, in the woods?"

"Just scoping for Capture the Flags. You know, strategy," she explained.

"Oh. _Heh_. Right. Ah, we're _so_ going to lose," Grover admitted, smirking.

"I know. We'll take it easy on 'em," Thalia smirked back, winking.

"So... you won't tell... _them _that I'm here, right?" Grover asked worriedly, his fears starting to grow back, despite the brief moment of relief he just experienced.

"Of course! If I was here as a camper, I'd definitely be your partner-in-crime," Thalia laughed, before striding away. When twenty feet away, she muttered under her breath, "He's a goner."

* * *

"Don't tell him it was actually me that tipped you off," Nico led Camp Half-Blood's cutest couple (something determined by the Aphrodite cabin years before they actually got together) through the woods.

"Are you sure, Nico?" Percy questioned.

"Yeah, I swear-" Nico was interrupted by a sound.

The entire trio froze. "Don't move," Annabeth whispered through clenched teeth, silently pulling out her knife.

Another sound. This time, Percy brought out his pen, and Nico, his Stygian iron sword.

Suddenly, from behind, the knife was pulled from Annabeth's grasp, and she gasped.

All three of them swiveled around to find a teenage girl, donned in punk clothing and a silver circlet upon her head, clutching Annabeth's knife, and grinning triumphantly.

"Thalia!" Annabeth was shocked, and at a loss for words (which she rarely is). "How did you... I mean, how could you-"

"Practice," Thalia's grin broadened as she handed the knife back. "You get a lot of it when the roam the earth with a goddess."

Annabeth pulled her friend into a hug. "When did you get here? Why are you all alone?"

Thalia realized that it wouldn't be the best idea to admit she was already strategizing for Capture the Flag, so she lied. "Memories. Just wanted to walk around. The rest of the Hunters are in the Artemis cabin right now, sleeping."

The two boys behind the two girls stepped up awkwardly. "Hey, Thalia," Percy stuck his hand out, and Nico copied his gesture.

At the sight of Percy's awkward expression, Thalia was reminded of Grover (who she had seen only an hour ago), and his situation. Instead of shaking their hands, she started laughing maniacally at them.

Percy looked stunned, and Nico dropped his hand. "Are... are you okay?" he questioned.

"Yeah - _pant_ - yeah, I'm - _laugh_ - I'm totally -_ pant_ - fine," she puffed.

"Do you wanna come to the Big House?" Annabeth asked her worriedly. Thalia was really _not_ the person to break out laughing randomly.

"No, no I'm fine," she coughed, clearing her throat. "Sorry. I just... though of something," she suppressed another fit of uncharacteristic, _girly_ giggling. "So, where are you guys going?" she asked.

"Well..." Annabeth glanced at her boyfriend, "it's a really long story. But, right now, we really need to talk to Grover, who Nico claims he saw somewhere here yesterday."

"Oh," Thalia tried her best to look surprised. Then she wondered, _Sell out Grover and tell them, or cover his "hiding spot" up?_

She decided as she opened her mouth. "Yeah, um, I saw him here too. He said he was going over to the Poseidon cabin, to meet with you, Percy."

"Really?" Percy looked surprised. "The last time I saw him, he was running as fast as his goat legs would take him."

"No. No, he was definitely heading over to see you. Unless you have a roommate now named _Prissy_, he was talking about you."

"Well, okay," Percy looked at Nico and Annabeth, who both raised their eyebrows with doubt. "Let's... head back then."

"See ya!" Thalia called cheerfully. When they were out of sight, she sighed, and muttered to herself, "Grover totally owes me."

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**Yeah. I hope I can make the next chapter better :)**

**I hope I kept Thalia in-character for you guys :P She's my favorite character, next to Nico, but it was kinda weird for me to write her dialogue. And I'm assuming Thalia has a least **_**okay**_** acting skills, seeing as her mom was an actress :P**

**R&R! **


	6. Chapter 6

**I honestly do not have an excuse for not updating besides "sorry." aolsjfdlsi]waflksp[';mf. I'm just a sorry, lazy procastinator.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson. I don't really think I need to say it anymore.**

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"Grover! _Grover! _GROVER!" could be heard sounding out through the woods on Friday afternoon.

Reaching the boulder she had found him at before, an irritated Thalia called, "Grover!"

The said satyr's head popped up from behind. "_What_?" he had a wild look in his eyes, one that signaled a starving being.

"Have you really been hiding out here for three days? What the heck have you been doing?" Thalia asked. Throughout those three whole days, Juniper had been frantic, and it was annoying as hell.

Instead of answering any of the questions Thalia shot at him, Grover jumped on the one question running through his mind, "Do you have food?"

"What have you been eating and drinking all this time?" Thalia exclaimed.

"Well, you know, for satyrs, some types of shrubs are edible." The two both shivered. "And the water from the creek isn't that bad. But that's besides the point! Did you bring food?"

"No! I just came to tell you that you should probably clear out. Today's Friday, and everyone's preparing for Capture the Flag," she explained.

Grover muttered a curse word under his breath. "It's _already _Friday? Did Percy and Annabeth know where I am?" Grover asked, still very paranoid.

"Nope. Thanks to me. But I will tell you that Nico is the one who ratted out on you," she informed him dutifully.

"What? B-but he promised he wouldn't say a word!" Grover felt cheated. "Well, what am I going to do now? Where should I go?"

"Just sneak off to my cabin if you want. Stay there, until I come back. Then you can hide out here again," Thalia offered.

"Really?" Grover was suspicious. Usually the Hunter's lieutenant wasn't so generous.

"Yeah," Thalia confirmed. "Just be careful. My Hunters may be in there, and if find you in there, you're kinda screwed."

"That's fine, that's fine. Nothing in exchange?" Grover questioned.

"Nope. Well, you still owe me, but nothing right now," Thalia made their deal clear.

Still a little doubtful, Grover raised his eyebrows and cautiously stuck out his hand.

Thalia looked at Grover with disbelief. "Seriously?"

"Well, why are you helping me?"

* * *

_Flashback_

_"So, Thalia. Where ya been?" Leia questioned their lieutenant as the Hunters prepared for bed. "Scouting the woods for Friday?"_

_"Well, yeah. I mean, of course we're gonna win, but just to be sure-"_

_Phoebe stood up. "Really? Cause I heard from that goth little freak-"_

_"His name is Nico," Thalia said sharply. Although she loved her Hunters, she hated it when they picked on her guy friends at camp._

_"Sure. That someone was hiding in there. I think it was that weird satyr-"_

_"Grover!" Thalia wasn't sure what Phoebe's problem was; she did know the names of everyone, she just liked to pretend she didn't._

_"Whatever! And I was just wondering... have you seen him? 'Cause apparently that strange kid... Nico," Phoebe corrected herself immediately so that Thalia wouldn't interrupt again, "is giving away money for the person who gets him to face that other mushy, lovey-dovey couple, Peter and Annabelle-"_

_"Their names are Percy and Annabeth!" Thalia was really annoyed now. "And no. I haven't seen Grover."_

_Phoebe rolled her eyes, clearly not convinced. "Well, fine. But I just hope that Grover scrams before Capture the Flag. He's toast if anyone finds him," she smirked at the brief look of panic on their lieuenant's face._

_Clearing her complete give-away expression, Thalia just said, "I guess you're right," agreeing was probably the best way to resolve the conflict. Well, I guess it's probably a good time to go to bed," she added hurriedly._

_Before falling asleep, she made a resolution to track down Nico, the little punk._

* * *

Thalia cleared her mind from the flashback. "No reason," she protested. "Is it bad that I just wanna help a friend?"

"Just shake," Grover insisted on the old-fashioned way."

Thalia pursed her lips, resisting. "You realize that if I don't touch your hand, which you probably haven't washed in _days,_ by the way, you still lose, right?"

Grover sighed. "Fine. Should I go now?"

"Yes! Immediately! In fact, everyone's just finishing up lunch!" she explained to him, motioning him to scram immediately.

"Sure, sure... wait! You actually came from lunch and didn't bring me _anything_? At all?" Grover realized he had been cheated (kind of).

Thalia cast him an irked glare.

"I'm going, I'm going!" he scurried off, making sure to hide behind a tree every other ten seconds for a dramatic effect.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "He's screwed.

"But... it's not my problem anymore."

* * *

Percy and Annabeth were being lectured by the Hunters.

Phoebe continued on with her rant, "No kissing, no groping, no flirting, no _nothing_, in this cabin, you hear? You're just gonna wait for Grover, and when he comes, you're gonna talk to him, and then you can go off and do whatever it is you couples do in your cabins."

The green-eyed demigod god was somewhat overwhelmed by the Hunter's aggressive personality, but Annabeth nodded, and replied, "You have my word."

Her boyfriend cast an exasperated, sideways glance at her, as if to say _"you're-not-serious-we're-not-actually-listening-to-the-Hunters." _But instead of voicing his real thought, he turned back to the fearsome Phoebe, and asked, "So, how do you know Grover's coming here?"

She rolled her eyes, showing how pathetic she believed guys to be. "Thalia met Grover in the woods, and even though she denied it, we know she did. And _today_ is Capture the Flag, and she's 'gone out to the woods' again, so most likely she's offering him help. And how else would she do that besides letting hide out here for the evening?"

Annabeth was actually impressed by their logic. "Well, if you say so," she said. "And we promise, we won't do anything in here."

Phoebe looked between the two, trying to discern any facial expressions that would give away whether they were lying or not. Not finding anything, she sighed.

"Fine. But these beds are made perfectly, and if they are messed up in _any way_, we'll know," she advanced towards the door, with the rest of the Hunters following in suit.

The door slammed shut, and Percy glanced at Annabeth, who was playing with a loose thread on the bedding, again.

"So... what now?" he asked slyly.

She shrugged apathetically. "We wait for Grover," she answered back.

Percy turned his body all the way to face her this time with a look of complete, utter disbelief. "What? You're actually going to listen to the Hunters?"

"Well, we promised them. Of course. Plus, if Grover walks in, that gives him another opportunity for a story," she explained.

Percy realized there was no sense in arguing back, and moaned silently. It was going to be a l_oooo_ng five minutes.

* * *

"Dun-dun-dun-dun-DUN-DUN," Grover murmured what he called his "super secret agent ninja theme song."

He supposed danced his way throughout the camp, making sure to take the long route so no one in the dining pavilion would notice a satyr prancing his way to the Hunter's cabin.

"Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-_daaaaaaaahhhhhh_," Grover finished on a remarkably high note.

He finally landed right in front of the Artemis cabin. Although aware there would be no Hunters in there (and after lunch they would be at the armory preparing), he knew that the moment would definitely present itself at one point in his life. The opportunity to actually _see_ the cabin of Artemis.

A small rustle was heard from behind him. Instincts that had grown strong from the days behind a rock caused Grover to jump and swivel around with a look of unreserved terror.

"Gods, Grover, don't pee yourself," Travis Stoll smirked at him mischievously.

"Travis!" Grover gasped. No one was supposed to know about him hiding in here, especially not a Stoll! "Wha- I just- uh- I don't- but- I'm just-"

Travis held up a hand to silence him before continuing. "Dude, I wouldn't go in there if I were you."

"Why not?" What was with people helping him today with no strings attached?

"Because," Travis said, lowering his voice, "Percy and Annabeth are in there, dude. Who told you to come in here?"

"Thalia!" he said, shocked. Thalia would really sell him out like that?

Travis snorted. "Well, she's obviously trying to get you into trouble because they _are_ in there, about to bust you. Better not walk in there," he explained.

Grover nodded obediently. "Wait- why should I trust you? Remember the time you told me Juniper was into clowns?

The Stoll guffawed at one of his many infamous pranks. "Yeah, well, see I have this bet with Connor; he thinks you can't last a week without running into the lovebirds. But, I disagree; I think it'll go on for at least two weeks, because your desperation definitely beats out Annabeth's nerdy logic."

"Oh," Grover nodded his head in understanding, then realized the meaning. "Hey!"

"Whatever, man, just go hide somewhere else," Travis advised him.

"But where? Capture the Flag is _today_!"

The teenage demigod grinned his notorious evil grin. "You really desperate?"

* * *

**Yup. I ended there. I promise to update more frequently :) Thanks to everyone for their reviews – it means a lot to me**

**[…cheesy silence]**

**But I also promise to have Grover tell another story next chappie :P**

**Review? xD**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi.**

**Disclaimer: I think by the seventh chapter we get that I DON'T OWN PJO. :(**

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"Welcome to Casa de la Hermes!" Travis barged into his cabin, to be greeted by several messy bunk beds and unnecessarily stolen goods from the camp store. "El dormitorio para los hijos de dioses."

Grover was impressed. "You know Spanish?"

"No," Travis scoffed. "Connor and I saw it in a movie we stole from Blockbuster one time," he explained.

"Oh," Grover's face dropped a little. "So you want me to hide in here?"

"Yeah," Travis grinned. "Feel free to take anything off the bunks over there, that's where most of the newbies sleep," he chuckled, before heading towards what could only be his own untidy bunk.

Grover tiptoed in cautiously, afraid something would jump right out at him. You really could never tell in this particular cabin.

"So... uh... how many campers you got in here now?" Grover asked, trying to fill in the large, gaping, awkward silence.

"Well, ever since Percy made the agreement, we have half as many as we used to. So... around fifteen, I think?" Travis answered, flopping on a unkempt bed containing several comic books and other things Grover didn't really want to know about.

"Oh," Grover nodded timidly, his eyes still searching for the booby trap he half expected to pop up at any second. "So, where do you want me to stay?"

"I was thinking in the closet," Travis closed his eyes, relaxing, as Grover's eyes widened.

"The _closet_!" Grover gasped, fearful of what horrors might await him in the dreaded place. "B-but-"

Travis frowned and pulled himself into an upright position. "Dude, why not? You claustrophobic or something?" Seeing the panicked look on Grover's face, he sighed. "Fine, what about...," he looked around for another place to conceal his satyr companion. "Under the bed?"

Grover circumspectly peeked under the bed, which had been stashed with forgotten pizzas, shoes, and other random crap piled up in various mounds. He stood up.

"Yeah, I'm good with the closet."

* * *

Annabeth checked her watch for the umpteenth time.

Percy yawned, and fell backwards on the bed, crumpling the silvery-colored sheets ever so slightly.

Annabeth worriedly pulled her boyfriend back up to a sitting position, and smoothed out the bed back into its original, perfect pattern.

"I'm tired!" Percy protested, but when Annabeth firmly shook her head no, he slid off the bed lethargically. "When is Grover gonna get here?" he whined.

"I don't know!" the female demigod was also frustrated. "Maybe Phoebe was wrong."

"Well, I don't wanna miss Capture the Flag, so let's just go," Percy made to get up, but was held back.

"What if he _does_ come? We'll miss him!" Annabeth pulled him back.

Percy moaned. "Annabeth, we've been here for over half an hour. It's killing me not to do _anything_ with you, even though we're the only ones in here - because you 'promised' the Hunters we wouldn't. And we're gonna miss Capture the Flag! Don't you wanna beat the Hunters?"

Annabeth sighed in surrender. She got up, but suddenly tripped over Percy's feet, causing them to both to tumble down, girl atop boy. Laughing, neither of them moved.

"Incoming, I just needed my - YOU GUYS PROMISED!" Phoebe walked in to the room without warning.

There was silence for a couple seconds and awkwardness was almost literally dripping off the walls.

"So, er, what'd you need, 'cause we're kinda busy here?" Percy asked.

* * *

Connor walked into the Hermes cabin, only to find _his_ brother, lying on _his_ own bed, reading _his_ comic books.

"What are you _doing_, dude? I thought we were going to pull that prank on the Aphrodites after Capture the Flag?" Connor chucked the object (which happened to be a hairbrush - Hermes' sexy hair doesn't come naturally) closest to him at his brother.

"Sorry, dude, I was _busy_," Travis' eyes never left the enticing pages of the book.

Connor just stared in disbelief at his brother. "You were too _busy_ to help plan a prank?"

Travis just nodded in reply, pretending to concentrate on his book when in reality he was focusing on Connor not heading to the closet.

"Unless," a mischievous grin appeared on Connor's face, "you were daydreaming about Katie again, weren't you?"

Travis sat upright, his face turning red quickly. "No!" he shouted.

"Yeah, whatever man. I just needed my helmet, and I realized I left it in the closet."

Travis opened his mouth to defend the 'ridiculous' accusation of daydreaming of Katie, when he took in and absorbed what his twin had just stated.

"Uh, man, you can't go in there," Travis stood up to grab his brother.

Connor frowned bemusedly. "Why? Is Katie hiding in there, just waiting for me to leave?" He shook off his brother's firm grip and yanked open the door to find a quivering, mortified Grover, closing his eyes tightly, as thought that were to make him invisible (or even better, vanish).

No one spoke for a whole minute.

Then Connor spoke. "Dude. Katie's one thing. But _Grover_?"

* * *

Annabeth and Percy were quickly ejected from the Artemis cabin, and apparently 'forever banned,' according to Pheobe.

"Well," Percy spoke, clearing his throat. "That was for nothing."

"That was mortifying!" Annabeth buried her hands in her face. Recognizing her boyfriend's perplexed face, she sighed. "Embarrassed. Do you realize that cabin is _sacred_ to Artemis?"

Percy shook his head. "But the look on her face... was kinda priceless, Annabeth," he said, as his way of comforting her.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, before checking her watch for the time. "We gotta get going. Capture the Flag," she reminded him.

"Right. 'Cause this time we actually have a chance of winning," Percy said in a flat tone of sarcasm.

They both stumbled over to a disappointed-looking Chiron.

"Chiron?" Annabeth was curious of the centaur's slightly depressive state.

"It seems we do not have enough campers for Capture the Flag," he admitted, staring at the ground.

The couple stared at him, unbelieving. "You're kidding," Percy was the first to speak.

"That's not possible. What do you mean, '_not enough_'? How many campers do we have?" Annabeth's brow furrowed as she shot out questions as though they were bullets.

Chiron just nodded sadly at a pathetic group of demigods who were half dressed in their armor and were holding sticks instead of the customary sword or spear.

"Not even Clarisse?" Annabeth was still not buying it. "Something weird must be going on."

The activities director shrugged, and nodded towards the rather large (compared the the Camp Half-Blood team at least) group of Hunters huddled together, being drilled by Thalia, and most likely reviewing battle tactics that at this point deemed fruitless.

"Are you sure you didn't forget to blow the horn?" Percy asked, out of nowhere, causing both heads to turn his way with a frustrated look in their eyes.

Annabeth shook her head, still unconvinced. "That just doesn't make sense. Why would people not show up? Unless they don't care..."

The angrily stomped over to the Demeter cabin as the two males watched curiously.

She knocked once, knocked twice, no answer.

The blonde teen was becoming more and more outraged as she repeated the same procedure at each cabin. Before she could rap her fist against the door of the Hermes cabin however, Connor Stoll popped his head out, startling her.

"Hey, Annabeth!" he exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"Why aren't you," she jabbed his orange T-shirt, "at Capture the Flag?" she questioned.

"Well... Katie kinda exploded at Travis. 'Cause, you know, they just can't get enough of each other. She set a vine to wrap around him, and he's all tangled. So, I'm trying to help him out of it while we try at get back at Demeter."

The daughter of Athena raised her eyebrows. "Well, do you realize that we need more people to participate in Capture the Flag? Or else, Camp Half-Blood loses..."

Connor shook his head in mock sympathy. "Well, I guess they're gonna have to do without us. Sorry, man."

The door was millimeters away from shutting, but before it slammed shut all the way, Annabeth cried out in desperation, "Wait!"

Connor sighed and opened the door a crack more so that his head could pop out a second time. "_What_?"

"There's no one else in there?"

"NO!" he screeched exasperatedly, and then, slammed the door, leaving Annabeth to stand there, fuming with rage. Seconds later, she was joined by Percy and Chiron, both whom had watched the exchange with great interest.

"That doesn't make sense. Where the _hell _did everyone go?" Annabeth cried out. "Did the gods just make them disappear? Gods, even my _own_ cabin is empty! Where could everybody be? It's not like they're all just packed up and left! Everybody was here at lunchtime! I bet the Stolls have something to do with it!" as she tried to sort out her thoughts and the current events logically, Percy turned to Chiron.

"Well... what does that mean then? Do we just forfeit? _Before_ the game even started?" He now looked dejected.

Chiron just nodded in response.

"Oh," Percy said, feeling a bit numb at the loss.

"I... I guess we have some free time," he realized some ten seconds later. He turned to his girlfriend, "Why don't we go do something fun?"

* * *

"'Kay. So I'm sure you're all familiar with our convicted runaway here."

Connor collected the money of the kids who piled in at the door of his now very-crowded cabin. It was just like old times.

Grover was still unsure of this compromise. Connor swore he wouldn't rat him out, only if he continued his story and let him charge the kids. What was the harm, as long as they didn't find out?

At the back of the crowd, Travis and Connor were whispering excitedly, counting the money they had earned from the demigods, adding in the amount they had also pick-pocketed from insouciant campers.

Outside, there was a bit of noise. Travis peered outside, to see none other than Annabeth stomping over to their cabin.

"Quick! She's coming!" Travis hissed at his brother, who screamed at the crowd.

"Shut up everyone! Annabeth's coming!" Connor cried.

Then he popped his head out the door, with Travis leaning in behind to hear every word. From inside the room, Annabeth's seething tone could be heard.

Grover cast a fearful look behind him, to see that every single demigod had frozen (with the exception of two Aphrodite girls, who were just reapplying lip gloss for the about tenth time since they were in the room).

The conversation carried on for what seemed like a painstakingly long time. After Connor snapped at Annabeth, he slammed the door in her face. Grover watched in awe at Connor; how did he actually get away with yelling in Annabeth's face?

As soon as the door clicked shut, Travis clouted his brother on the shoulder, _hard_.

"OW!" he cried out. "What was that for?"

"That was for saying 'me and Katie can't get enough of each other'!" he exclaimed; but his cheeks reddened when he realized Katie was also in the audience. Katie just ignored the looks, and pretended she didn't hear anything.

Grover rolled his eyes. He made his way past the chattering, jittery crowd, all the way to where the impish twins were still arguing. "What'd you say to Annabeth?" he cried. He absolutely did not want her to get any ideas as to where he was.

"Nothing that gave you away, dude. Don't worry. I'm not the son of messengers _and_ thieves for nothing."

At that moment, Chiron stepped into the room, and Grover's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"How'd you get word around to the _entire_ camp?" he was surprised at how fast stories travel. "All the way to Chiron."

Travis put a hand on his naive friend's shoulder. "Grover. We're not amateurs."

He shoved the satyr to the front of the room.

"Hey," Grover waved awkwardly at the numerous pairs of eyes that had directed their undivided attention to himself.

"So... I think where I left off was... Calypso?" he wasn't sure; after all, it had been almost a week since his attempt campfire story in the middle of the day, in broad daylight, in the woods.

"Well, what happened was Calypso admitted to Percy that the Fates had let a hero wash up on her shore every thousand years or so. Someone she couldn't help but-"

"We already heard that part!" A kid yelled out, but was immediately hushed by his surrounding campers.

Grover cleared his throat with indignation. Did these kids want to hear the story or not?

"Anyways," he continued, shooting a look at the abrasive camper, who looked completely unabashed, "Percy also knew that Annabeth, Tyson, and I were counting on him. Not to mention, the only thing we knew about his whereabouts was that Mount St. Helens erupted in a massive destruction."

He half-grinned at the memory; although it was sad, he couldn't help but be amused at his best friend's knack for trouble.

"Back here, it was a wreck. No one was sure where Percy was, and Annabeth was a complete mess," he told them. Some of the older campers nodded at the memory of her _quite_ memorable speech at his unnecessary funeral.

"Everyone was disappointed, because we expected he was the kid of the prophecy, the hero," the satyr paused, to find that no one had interrupted him for a _whole minute_. That must've been a record.

"And so, during Percy's funeral, we were about to burn his shroud after Annabeth's speech. She was getting all choked up, something which she rarely does, when she paused, stared behind the audience in horror, and said: 'He's standing right there!'" Grover smiled at the memory.

There were only a couple chuckles from the audience, mostly from the older campers who had witnessed the occasion.

Grover cleared his throat a second time, although this time it was out of embarrassment. "Er... you had to be there."

Although Grover was feeling a bit disappointed in lack of reaction, he was also silently sighing in relief. _No one had interjected his story yet_.

_Knock_. _Knock_. **_Knock_. **

'Never mind,' Grover groaned mentally.

Travis peered out the window, only to witness Thalia, Nico, and some big, mean-looking Hunter (whom he had recognized as the one he and his twin had pulled the T-shirt prank on - priceless!) standing on the Hermes' cabin porch.

He opened the door cautiously. "You guys alone?" he questioned; but Thalia just gave him an exasperated look and barged into the room to find Grover and the rest of the camp.

Grover's face heated up when Thalia walked in. She had set him up, hadn't she? She was sending him to see Percy and Annabeth in her own cabin, wasn't she?

But he changed his mind once Thalia spoke.

"Hey, Grover. I found the two little rats who made me look guilty."

* * *

**There ya go. Another story, & some Percabeth/Tratie. :)**


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